1. Technical Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to Web technology. More particularly, it pertains to resolving and storing dynamic links as static links for publishing web content.
2. Background Art
Off-line Web browsers download web pages, and all associated graphics or the like, and save them on local media, such as a client hard drive, for viewing off-line. Many of these browsers provide the capability to the a user to specify a “depth” (maximum number of recursive links that are to be followed) and will follow links from the pages the user specifies. This is useful for users with limited time on-line, or who want to save a particularly good web page, graphics and all.
Available in the art are many such client web caching programs. These include, for example, GetBot, Robo Surfer, Web Buddy, WebCopy99, WebZip, and Surf Express. In addition, many web servers have a server side cache function that operates in much the same manner as these client-side web caching programs.
However, none of these caching programs provide the ability to follow data driven dynamic links, those links that are derived by executing some logic on the server, possibly in conjunction with parameters passed from user interaction with a web page, and to modify the original page to contain all of the necessary information, including static links or Javascript, to access the pages that have been followed.
It is an object of the invention to provide a system and method for publishing dynamically linked, interactive content as a statically linked web hierarchy at a client side process.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a system and method for discovering the structure of a web site and convert any and all dynamically generated content into static pages.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a system and method for modifying function components in dynamically linked, interactive web page content to provide equivalent behaviors at a client without server side transaction processing.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a system and method for publishing highly interactive web content to a distributable media, thereby eliminating the need for a server or network connection.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a system and method for interacting with highly interactive web content when in a disconnected mode or in an area of the world where network infrastructure requires distribution on local media.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a system and method for publishing the content of HTML pages dynamically generated by a web server based on user interaction as if it was retrieved interactively and making the resulting content available via local media.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a system and method for accessing the content of HTML pages dynamically generated by a web server based on user interaction, without being connected to the server.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a system and method for publishing web content to a CDROM or other client based storage medium and for accessing that content through any non-connected computer browser.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a system and method for following dynamic links, those that rely on server side Java or Common Gateway Architecture (CGA) program logic.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a system and method with the ability to follow data driven dynamic links and modify the original page to contain all of the necessary information to access the followed pages.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a system and method which enables a client web caching program to follow data driven dynamic links, those links that are derived by executing some logic on the server in conjunction with some parameters passed from user interaction with a web page, and modify the original page to contain all of the necessary information, including static links, Javascript and the like, to access the followed pages.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a system and method for transforming a set of Hyper-text Markup Language (HTML) that requires server interaction to a set of HTML that does not require server interaction.